F25AS00317 Crane Creek Lacustuary Restoration

The Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge (ONWR) seeks to restore approximately 55 acres of wetlands in the lacustuary area of Crane Creek within ONWR. A total of $1,500,000 is available to conduct site assessments, engineering, design, permitting, and implementation including but not limited to site surveys, drawings, plans, permits, labor, materials, equipment, plantings, invasive species control, etc. Depending on estimated project costs determined during engineering and design, the project acreage will be adjusted to maximize the benefits to the Crane Creek lacustuary area. The long-term maintenance of this site will be the responsibility of the US Fish and Wildife Service (USFWS). The goal of the Crane Creek Lacustuary Wetland Restoration project is to demonstrate that fish and benthic habitat and populations can be improved in the many drowned river-mouths within the Maumee Area of Concern (AOC). This project will utilize restoration techniques such as submerged barrier bars/shoals and rock/earthen islands with fallen/dead tree installation. These features will allow water to move in and out of the site with seiche and river flows, creating fish and benthic habitat that benefit the natural aquatic environment which in turn will improve the water quality in Lake Erie for the citizens who utilize this resource. The Crane Creek Lacustuary Wetland Restoration project was conceived by a Team of regionally active habitat restoration experts, based upon their knowledge from other sites around the Great Lakes basin. This Team included restoration implementers and regulatory representatives from USFWS, US Geological Survey (USGS), Ohio Environemental Protection Agency (OEPA), Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), Great Lakes Commission, Ducks Unlimited, Toledo Metroparks, Partners for Clean Streams, and several consulting firms. This project will be modeled after similar projects in the area including the Penn 7 Wetland Restoration project and the Maumee River Islands projects, as well as other successful projects in the Muskegon River and Detroit River AOCs. The Crane Creek – Frontal Lake Erie Hydrologic Unit (HU) contains Crane Creek, which flows northeast from near Dowling (Ohio), and is subsequently joined by Henry Creek, Little Crane Creek, Ayers Creek, and other unnamed tributaries before flowing through the ONWR into Lake Erie. The lower 5.9 miles of Crane Creek is a lake-influenced, lacustuary zone. The portion of Crane Creek within the ONWR includes over 300 acres of wetlands and is within the lacustuary zone, and as such, lake seiche effects push Lake Erie water both upstream and downstream within the ONWR. The proposed project is located between 1.5 and 2.5 miles upstream from the confluence of Crane Creek with Lake Erie. Almost 75% of the Crane Creek HU is in agricultural production and only 3% is considered impervious surface. Most of the upland areas in this HU are actively farmed, and small channelized ditches carry tile drainage and other agricultural runoff into the larger tributaries and Crane Creek proper. The impairment of this reach is driven by siltation and high total phosphorus levels because of channelization and runoff from agricultural areas. The lacustuary portion of this HU, is impaired for all 3 biological Beneficial Use Impairments (BUIs), especially the benthos at only 41% of the BUI restoration target. Based on Ohio’s current BUI restoration targets, unless these sites can be improved to over 50% of their targets, the whole HU could remain impaired for benthic community health. Ohio is investigating changing the methods used to measure BUI 6: Degradation of Benthos, but the site is clearly impaired. The fish populations and habitat scores are 86% and 81%, respectively. The lacustuary metric data shows low numbers of total species, a predominance of pollution-tolerant species, heavy siltation, and extensive embeddedness.